As promised last week, Episode Four in the Trinitytide series is now available in both video and podcast versions.   I’ve used several of the images of St, Paul which have been added to our library either from the public domain or from various picture vendors.   The most unusual one is today’s featured image, an oil on panel by Dutch painter and sculptor Lucas van Leyden, painted circa 1520 A.D. and now in the collection at Yale University Gallery of Art, New Haven, CT.   It is distinctly Western and presents St. Paul as if he were one of van Leyden’s clients sitting in his studio for a portrait, as opposed to the more fierce facial expression and bodily pose favored in Eastern Church art.  As is customary in Western Church art, St. Paul holds a book and a sword, the latter a symbol of the manner of his death.  Traditional accounts say that St. Paul was beheaded outside Rome around 68 A.D. during the reign of Emperor Nero.  Many claims have been made about the whereabouts of his remains, but not, as far as I am aware, are widely accepted.

Episode Four provides the full texts and origin of the Collects for Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Sundays after Trinity.  Commentary, summaries and key quotations are provided for the Epistle and Gospel readings.   I’ve also mentioned the next three of the eleven hymns to the Holy Trinity from The St. Chrysostom Hymnal.  The final two hymns will be mentioned in Episode Five, which is focused on the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Sundays after Trinity.

Watch the Video.              Listen to the Podcast

This coming week I will be acquiring three more impressions of St. Paul, all three in stained glass from the 19th C, including his Conversion, the warning of Agabus concerning his arrest, and a full size, frontal view of St. Paul with book and sword.

As always, I thank viewers for their interest and support.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Amen!  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

I’ve been reviewing reader/viewer comments and various email message concerning the Anglican Internet Church, particularly its various presences on the Web.  Two common threads, not actually spoken, are Why the Seasonal Videos; Why the Focus on the 1928 B.C.P.?; and Why No Actual Video of the author?   I hope the following provides readers/viewer with acceptable answers.

Seasonal Videos:  One of the original objectives of the AIC, when it was just the broadcast arm of St. John Chrysostom Anglican Church at St. Joseph’s Villa Chapel, Richmond, VA, was to extend the reach of traditional homilies and traditional local doctrinal teaching and Bible Study.  Today, the AIC reaches a broad audience in many parts of the world.  The Seasonal Videos, which will eventually include programs on the entire Church Calendar, offer viewers and listeners through the Podcast version, are a way of providing traditional teaching, easily-available, without either going over the heads of the viewers or insulting their intelligence — and giving them a glimpse of the treasures of Church art from both the Western and Eastern Church.

Why the B.C.P. Focus:  The greatest treasure left to Anglicans by the English Reformation is the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer (as amended in the 1940s).  The liturgies provided, especially for Holy Communion, provide a valuable link backwards in time to the early Church both at Rome and at Constantinople and at Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem and the many Christian communities throughout Asia Minor.  Every time an Anglican hears a Collect read he or she is reminded of the continuity of the Christian heritage which came down from the Apostles through the clergy, bishops, and archbishops who defended the Nicene Creed in the face of “reform” movements.  The Seasonal Videos, with their focus on how the Calendar is brought to life in Holy Communion or Morning Prayer, help Anglicans understand exactly where these beliefs came from, including the source of the Collects; provide the short summaries of the Epistle and Gospel readings, with appropriate religious art; and enrich the experience with commentary on appropriate Seasonal Music from The St. Chrysostom Hymnal, which is offered as a supplement to the 1940 Hymnal.

Why No Actual Videos of the Author:   All our video series, whether in the Bible Study, Seasonal, or Christian Education categories, are intended to keep the focus on the content.   Nothing would be gained by watching the author while he narrates a video.  In fact, I believe, such video content would take time away from both the Script and the extensive archive of icons, frescoes, mosaics, engravings, paintings, watercolors, illuminated manuscripts, bas reliefs, statues, monuments, and church buildings, all of which, I hope, leave the viewer reminded that 21st C. Christians are not alone!  We are part of a continuing legacy begun by the teaching, healing, preaching, Nativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and by the untiring work of His Apostles, whether of the 1st C., or the 4th when the Nicene  Creed was written; or the 5th-6th-7th-8th C. when most of the Collects were composed; or in all the intervening years until the 21st C.  That legacy remains alive, vibrant, and threatening to the secular world as long as modern day Christians continue to worship God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, constantly reminded by the words of the liturgies spoken by millions of Christians who have come before us.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  May God continue to bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen!

Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!